Police reportedly compiling lists of UOC cathedral defenders in Chernivtsi

Photo: Police officer in Chernivtsi. Source: Pershyi Kozatskyi

Police in Chernivtsi are conducting vehicle checks in an effort to identify parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Holy Spirit Cathedral who, on June 17, 2025, came out to defend their sacred site from militants of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). A corresponding video was published by Dozor channel.

An officer stopped a parishioner's car and announced that he had committed an administrative offense.

“Measures are being taken to identify individuals who participated in the mass disturbances that occurred near the church in Chernivtsi. This is a case of public disorder,” the officer stated. According to him, “many people were involved in this incident on the territory of the specified enterprise.”

As previously reported by UOJ sources, authorities are compiling lists of parishioners who defended the cathedral in Chernivtsi. As of June 23, nearly 70 faithful from Bukovyna were already included in the so-called “blacklists.”

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